Canadian companies wasting $88B on admin

Canadian companies wasting $88B on admin

HR departments are somewhat notorious for their love of red-tape but the true extent to which bureaucratic behaviour is damaging businesses has just been revealed in a shocking new study.

According to research from The Workforce Institute at Kronos, Canadian businesses waste $88 billion every year on unnecessary administrative work – significantly more than a number of other countries in the study.

The staggering figure equates to an estimated cost of $4,934 per person, per organization on burdensome tasks that are not directly related to employees' core job roles.

"It's clear that a small thing, such as a single hour wasted, can make a huge difference when multiplied across hundreds or thousands of employees,” said Joyce Maroney, director at The Workforce Institute at Kronos.

Dubbed “The $88 Billion Question, the study featured extensive interviews with HR professionals, business managers and employees – many of whom painted the Canadian workforce as one hindered by complexity, low productivity, and poor-performing technology.

“This research shows that the average day is also becoming increasingly complicated for employees, with a large proportion of time being spent managing complexity instead of adding value,” noted Maroney. “This is not how employees want to spend their days.”

According to the study, respondents spent an average of 3.1 hours per week on unrelated administrative tasks but, if employers could reduce that by just one hour every week, they could expect to save $1,645 per employee every year.

Employees were also keen to reclaim this time, with 54 per cent stating they would do more strategic planning and 62 per cent wanting to put their focus on important tasks which would benefit the growth of the business and the customer's experience.

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